What Are The Different Types Of Security Penetration Testing?
We all know that, no business needs to suffer the negative consequences of a major cyber attack. For one thing, cybersecurity attacks are costly. In 2017, for example, WannaCry ransomware infected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries. The perpetrators demanded $300 ransom per computer.
The average data breach costs a company $3.86 million while the average denial of service attack costs a company $2.5 million.
There are also other negative impacts that you need to consider.
- Compliance issues and possible fines
- Downtime
- Loss of business status
- Customer attrition
Penetration tests are always considered as a great method to detect holes in your security loopholes. With the aid of security professionals you can determine weakness and learn what steps to take to assist your business and prevent attack.
What Is Security Penetration Testing?
There are always new vulnerabilities on the horizon. A business can’t rest on its cybersecurity laurels or simply hope for the best. The different kinds of security penetration testing recognize the ingenuity and motive of cybercriminals looking to make a buck, damage a organizations, steal intellectual property, shut a system down, or wreak havoc for political gain.
Penetration tests are more tough to execute than a vulnerability scan, which depends mainly on automated tools to determine weaknesses. Regular penetration testing (also known as pen testing and erstwhile called security testing) affect manual effort to dig deeper than a scan and helps keep a organization current by analyzing the strength of security controls in real time. The pen testing can also help with compliance with FDIC, HIPAA, PCI or other compliance standards.
Penetration testing can target wireless networks, network security devices, software applications, network endpoints, servers and wireless devices as well as physical entry points. The main kind of testing, though, are network, physical, and application penetration tests with social engineering elements thrown in, too.
Different Types of Security Penetration Testing
Network Penetration Testing
In network penetration testing, testers identify exploitable networks, systems, hosts and network devices (i.e.: routers and switches) to find vulnerabilities. This pen test simulates an attack to:
Understand the organization’s level of risk
Reveal openings hackers might use to compromise or take over systems or networks
Address and fix security flaws
Physical Penetration Testing
Also known as physical intrusion testing or physical security penetration testing, this kind of pen testing attempts to agree perimeter security, intrusion alarms, motion detectors, locks, sensors, cameras, mantraps and other physical barriers to gain unauthorized physical access to sensitive areas.
Required in various industries for compliance needs, this kind of testing can give decision makers a best idea of cybersecurity unknowns. By recognizing physical security control flaws and real risks the business faces today, physical pen testing gives important insight into the security of physical assets.
Application Penetration Testing
Application penetration testing employs globally accepted and industry standard frameworks to attempt to compromise, gain access, or take over apps, be they software, web applications or mobile applications. This type of testing identifies application security flaws and helps organization to see their software through the eyes of both hacker and experienced developer.
The better you understand application complexity and can communicate that to your security partner, the more effective this type of security penetration testing can be.
It’s a good idea to have different people test the security of an app than those who developed it. as developers are often too close to their work to effectively analyze its security flaws.
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